1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an amplifier for a semiconductor device and a method of controlling the same, particularly to a current sense amplifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a circuit for, transferring input data at high speed, it has been known to use a current sense amplifier for converting a current difference between two input data into a voltage difference and amplifying the voltage difference.
Such a current sense amplifier is reviewed in, for example, "DIGEST OF TECHNICAL PAPERS, pp. 208-209, ISSCC 92, Feb. 21, 1992."
In the conventional current sense amplifier, a current flows regularly during sensing operation, namely, while a control signal of the current sense amplifier is active. Accordingly, the current consumption of the current sense-amplifier becomes large.
Further, since a large voltage drop occurs across every MOS transistor provided between an input terminal and a ground voltage, the amplitude of the output voltage from an output terminal becomes a fraction of a power supply voltage.